AthleticBusiness.com has partnered with LexisNexis to bring you this content.

Copyright 2014 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

This is what Tom Jurich, the Louisville athleticdirector, said Thursday: "One thing I believe in is forgiveness. Bobby has convinced me he's a changed man."

This is what would've been more honest: "I like winning games and making money, especially since my own income is tied to both. So I don't care if Bobby Petrino breaks a stone tablet of the Ten Commandments over his head every week before kickoff as long as he can beat Florida State."

This is what Jurich claimed he heard when he sought feedback on Petrino from "20 or 30" former players, including "some in the NFL": "They love him. They adore him. They said, 'He was the greatest influence on my life.' "

This is what former Falcons running back Warrick Dunn, as upstanding individual as there ever has been, said of Petrino after the coach's midnight exit with games still remaining in the 2007 season: "Coward" and "Classless" and "Any family or any kid he recruits should worry. Do you really buy into what a guy says when he did the same thing to Louisville to come to Atlanta? He did the same thing to Atlanta to go to Arkansas. I think his history and rep speaks for itself."

This is sort of like the skit when Charlie Brown keeps trusting Lucy when she says she'll hold the football so he can kick it --- except in this case, Lucy is short for Lucifer and Charlie Brown is an academic institution whose mission is to raise men and women and mold young minds (bahahaha).

Look. We've been down this Petrino dirt road a million times.

He job-hops 10 times in 17 years. He pledges his love and loyalty to Louisville, then meets in an airplane hangar with Auburn officials. He signs a 10-year extension with Louisville, then six months later takes the Falcons' job, then pledges his commitment to the job and the team's owner, Arthur Blank. Then he walks out the next day with three games left in the season to take the Arkansas job, where his next public appearance was doing the "Pig-sooey" chant at a midnight news conference. Arkansas AthleticDirector Jeff Long cackled with delight, only to be pooped on when Petrino fooled around with a subordinate whom he had hired and gave a bonus to. So Arkansas fired Petrino and Western Kentucky hired him because, "Everybody deserves a second chance," the school's athleticdirector said and . . . wait . . . how many second chances is that?

Is a little transparency too much to ask for? Was it too much to expect a Louisville official to stand up at Thursday's news conference/coronation/soul selling and declare: "We're moving into the ACC. We want to win. Bobby Petrino may have proved himself to be a tool and an invertebrate, lacking any moral decency, but he does really cool things with four wide receivers."

Jurich was asked if he was concerned about national perceptions that Louisville had traded its integrity for winning. Answer: "No. We take hits all the time. We know what we stand for."

That much is clear, at least in actions, not words.

I believe in forgiveness. I believe in second chances. I believe in redemption and hope and the power of prayer.

I also think that if Petrino truly is a changed person after 52 years in the underworld, after turning his personal and professional lives into twin grease fires, nobody can possibly know that yet, least of all an employer that has been burned once.

I also believe an academic institution shouldn't be in the position of taking that risk, as quaint as that may sound.

Petrino was hired to win games and sell tickets. That's all Louisville cares about. If he happens to have evolved as a human, that will be a bonus.

Jurich said that during his eight-hour interview of Petrino, he recalled the coach's 2007 exit and said, "I told him I didn't like him. I didn't like anything about him."

Yet, he hired him anyway. Why? Because Petrino "looked him in the eye" and said he's changed. Because Petrino's wife vouched for him. Because, "I've been assured I got the new Bobby Petrino."

And his word is as solid as oak. Poison oak.

This isn't about redemption. It's about revenue. This is Faust pushing all of his chips into the middle of the table and asking, "So you're sure we can make it to the college football playoffs?"

Petrino said several times, "Louisville is our home" (echoing words he said before leaving Louisville the first time). He apologized for his previous exit. He talked about family and his grandchildren. He even choked up, almost on cue.

He referenced his "mistakes" and said, "It's something I'm not going to do again," though it's uncertain which misstep he was referring to.

Jurich: "I know I've been wrong before. But I feel this is his last stop."

In truth, it doesn't matter. This isn't about loyalty, honesty or integrity. It's about wins and dollar signs and selling one's soul to achieve both. But those sound bites wouldn't play as well.

Check out photos of Bobby Petrino's ugly exits from the Falcons and Arkansas.

Related Content

County Welcomes New Parks and Rec Director Putnam County Parks and Recreation Commission Executive Director Jarrod Dean sees a bright future for the county in his new role, with plenty of respect included for Putnam's past. Dean, 36, became the PCPRC executive director on Nov. 7, having worked previously in the executive branch of the West Virginia Department of Agriculture. "I was born and raised in Huntington and worked in Charleston for a little while, he said last week. "After my wife and I got married, we moved to Putnam County. One of the reasons was because the county has such a good school rating. We've lived here for about four years. "My background is in engineering project management. I did sales and development for several structural steel fabrication companies, plus their economic development and a lot of construction stuff. read more

Fitness Clubs Under Scrutiny for Payment Practices The Minnesota-based Life Time Fitness health club has agreed to pay $976,458 in back wages and liquidated damages, while in Ontario, employees of GoodLife Fitness have leveled a class-action lawsuit against the company for the sum of $60 million. read more

This article appeared in the November | December issue of Athletic Business. Athletic Business is a free magazine for professionals in the athletic, fitness and recreation industry. Click here to subscribe.

Opinion: Strong's Early-Season Success Unsustained As we consider the end of Charlie Strong's star-crossed tenure at Texas, flash back to a moment when the possibilities seemed wide open. Way back on Sept. 4, Texas edged Notre Dame in what seemed at the time to be an important pivot point for the program. The Longhorns beat the Irish in double overtime, in prime time, a Sunday window all to themselves to showcase a freshman quarterback running a potent new offense, a program finally headed back toward relevance. Afterward, Strong crowd-surfed atop his celebrating players. When he finally left the field, he stopped for a quick chat and a hug from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. read more

Amazon May Look Into Live Sports Streaming Amazon is talking with professional and college sports leagues in an attempt to put together a live sports streaming offering. The NFL, MLB, NBA and MLS are among pro leagues Amazon has met with to talk about broadcast rights. read more

Opinion: Cuban Misses Mark with Credential Revocation The war against the machines has begun, and you might have missed the first cries of battle. Forget our national schism, the protests on the streets in cities across the country, these remorseless, robotic monsters are the ones coming to destroy your way of life right down to the very newsprint upon which these words live. But fear not. There will be no waiting for the savior foretold in the prophecies. We have our hero. We know his name. It is he, Mark Cuban, of Dallas, Texas, USA. read more